A. Little Help
- Author: Art Little
- Subject Matter: Management
Transmission shop owners throw away thousands of dollars every year on advertising that does not work. Why ? I have been a shop owner and visited with a lot of transmission shop owners over the years and I am convinced that they just don’t have time (or haven’t taken the time) to figure out exactly how they should be spending their marketing dollars.
Most of us do not have an educational background in marketing or any experience in Internet technology, so when we hear terms like SEO, Google Analytics, AdWords campaigns… our eyes start to cross and then we get this far-away look and then, we are gone. Let’s face it, without the education and experience, it makes it difficult for us to grasp and manipulate the choices and the data available today. With all the hats we wear at the shop every day, we just don’t have time to learn what we need to know, so the money gets spent and around and around we go, where she stops nobody knows. It is like gambling at a roulette wheel in Las Vegas.
In the July 2014 issue of Transmission Digest, I interviewed marketing expert Craig Pollack. In an effort to continue filling the education and experience gap, I have decided to interview another online marketing expert who is working “in the trenches” presently with transmission shop owners nationwide. Interviews seem to get to the point faster than any other format.
This month I am interviewing Corey Turner, with Drivetrain Technology. Corey owned a transmission shop and has been working with transmission shop owners for many years and has the education and experience we wish we had. I have asked Corey some online marketing questions that were not covered in my first interview with Craig. I sat down with Corey a few days ago and here is how that conversation went:
What can we do to drive more Internet leads?
Before Google AdWords, the Yellow Pages was the best source of leads in town. If you use AdWords to generate leads, are you sending them direct to your shop’s website? Consider using a special landing page and tracking phone number specifically for your AdWords campaigns instead of sending them directly to your website. This is how the big companies do it, but you can set up a landing page yourself. The upside to a landing page versus a link to your regular website homepage is that a well-designed landing page specifically for AdWords visitors tends to convert them into leads more often (15-20%) than just a shop website (5-15%). In our business, with the cost-per-click going up and up, the key is giving visitors only two options: Calling or filling out the form. You only have a few seconds to make a good impression–especially when a customer is shopping around–so having a high-converting landing page is key.
Is there anything that is free that we can do?
Yes. An important step in Internet marketing is how high you rank in Google Places. The first step: Have you claimed your Google Places listing yet? If you haven’t, you will want to verify your Places listing with Google.
Now it is time to optimize. There are many ways to optimize your page but the most important is to include complete information on everything your shop offers. Make sure you have a description that covers all of your services–especially if you also do general repairs. Put keywords in there such as “brake repair”, “engine repair” and “air conditioning repair”. Photos are also important–if you have some high-quality pictures of your shop and your team, be sure to add them. Link to your YouTube channel if you have videos online. Also, be sure to update your Google Maps Street View picture if Google has it wrong. Don’t forget to post a regular transmission repair ad on Craigslist in your local area and renew it every 48 hours. All of these steps will help customers find your shop.
As a side note, Moz Local (www.moz.com/local) offers a service to optimize your local listings on all the major sites.
What can we do if our website is not converting to calls and leads?
Is it mobile-device friendly? Use an iPhone or Android smartphone and visit your shop website. Is it easy to call your shop or fill out a form using a mobile device? They should be able to go to your website and press one button to call you. If contacting your shop through a mobile device requires too much zooming and scrolling, it’s time to make your website mobile-friendly so you are not burning leads. If you already have a website provider, they probably already know how to do this. If you want to do it yourself, Unbounce (www.unbounce.com) has a great tool for creating a mobile version of your site. Once your site is mobile-friendly, you will need to install a mobile redirect script on your main website that detects mobile a device then delivers the mobile version. If you do not think this is worth doing, keep in mind that around 40-50% of traffic on searches today related to transmission repair is coming in on mobile devices. All of those people are seeing your site the way you are seeing it on your phone. If a mobile user does not have the ability to easily call your shop, or fill out a form, they will probably be hitting the “back” button and going to a competitor who does!
What about online reviews?
Reviews are a touchy subject–they can either really help you or really hurt you. Whether you have any negative reviews online or not, every shop could use more positive reviews. Not sure how to get them? Whitespark (www.whitespark.ca) has a free Review Handout Generator you can use to make a PDF to give to customers that walks them through the Google review process. Google “whitespark review handout generator” to download a free one. Another option is to set up a desktop or tablet in your waiting area where you can direct customers to place a review. The good thing about Google Places is that they rank reviews by date, so if you have negative reviews, they eventually will move to the “next” page after you receive enough positive reviews to fill the first page. Removing bad reviews completely can be a complicated process but it is actually possible on Google.
How can we get more wholesale work?
Have you slacked off on marketing to car lots or fleets? Every shop could use a couple extra wholesale accounts. Start calling car lots directly and ask for their business. Go to the Used Car Dealers section of YellowPages.com in your town and start there. Take a half-day a week to make in-person visits. If you do not have the time, post an ad on Craigslist for an outside salesperson and interview until you find the right person.
How can we increase our general repair customer base?
For general repair online, there’s RepairPal, MechanicAdvisor, AutoMD and Openbay. Offline, gift card marketing is a no-brainer. Who throws away gift cards? Wowcards has a program where you can mail gift cards straight to your past customers. It is so easy and so cheap ($.50 cents to $1 each depending on quantity) that you can’t afford to not do this at least once a year. You could get creative and send these to local residential mailing lists, fleets or car lots, but you probably will get the best return from your past customers. Design your card, upload your list and send. You can also offer Groupon deals or Amazon Local deals in your town for various services to drive more general repair business.
Is it worth it to have a video on our website?
A video does make your business look more professional and will help drive more leads. Having a video also increases the possibility of getting on the first page of Google organic results, such as Transmission Repair [Your City Name]. If you do not want to go to the expense of having a commercial-grade video made, check your local barter network for video production companies or check out Odesk.
Should we use text messaging for our customers?
You should offer to text message your shop address and website to each customer you talk to. This increases the chances of a customer showing up for an appointment. Sendola has a button you can install on your website/landing page to automate this process while you are on the phone with them. It will send them the address and a link to your website so they have it on their phone. Do you get many customers calling about status updates? Autotext.me and DemandForce have programs that automatically update your customers each step of the way through text messaging. You can also use these numbers for future follow-ups, which is great for marketing repeat business or specials.
How do we handle Internet price shoppers?
First and foremost, make sure you call leads that come in from your online form ASAP. The lifespan of a transmission-repair lead–especially from the Internet–can be minutes before they schedule somewhere else or tow to a competitor. Offer free towing and free diagnostic checks. Tell customers about your financing options. Get in the habit of working leads that come in after-hours and weekends when competitors aren’t doing so. (Shops who are already doing this know what I am talking about here!)
Always offer to text message shop address, phone number, website link to the prospective customer while on the phone. Talk to them as long as possible. Follow-up with all leads a second and third time. The shops who do these things on a regular basis are getting far more results from Internet shoppers than the ones who are not.
Thanks Corey
Corey has some good tips on driving more business to the shop in this interview. If you are looking to increase your leads from the Internet or just have questions that you need a fast answer to, you can contact Corey and the team at www.drivetraintech.com or call him directly at 813-530-8433. He can help cut the waste in advertising. He owned a transmission shop, has been working with transmission shop owners like us every day and speaks our language.
The main thing I have learned in my interviews with lead experts is that tracking our leads is critical. If we can track it, we can control it. Before you spend any more money on advertising, make sure there is a way to track the leads you are paying for. New rule: If a lead source does not have a way to track their leads, do not use them.
We have to track not only the number of leads we are getting for the amount of money we are spending, but also the quality of those leads (how much money we make or don’t make with each lead source). When you talk to a customer make sure you ask how he found your shop and then, put that lead in a lead-source category and track that lead through the shop. That way you will have a lead report from the advertising sources on where your leads came from and an internal lead report that tells you the quality of the lead for each lead source. By recording what happened to the lead once the customer contacted the shop you can easily evaluate which lead sources work and which ones don’t work.
So, once we know where the leads are coming from and the quality of those leads, we can look at which lead sources make us money and which ones do not. With that information it is easy to take the money out of the lead sources that are not working and put that money into the lead sources that are working. I think this data is worth taking the time to track because it allows us to step away from the roulette wheel and cut the waste in our marketing dollars. The idea is to cut the waste so we can get more leads for the same money.
